American Idol Recap: Top 3 Edition

Theme: Judge's, Contestant's and Producer's Choice

David Archuleta: Paula chose Billy Joel's "And So It Goes" for the first round and although Archuleta did a fine job and the song was an interesting choice, the performance was really everything we've seen before from Davie. The same thing can be said about his third round performance of "Longer," possibly the worst song choice ever for the 17 year old (way to go producers). His shining moment this week was during round two singing Chris Brown's "With You." Was it perfect? No. He stumbled a couple of times and Paula was right in pointing out that his phrasing was too long for the song. That being said, all I know is that he had me swooning like a 13 year girl. The reason it worked so well for me was because it was the second time (after "Think of Me" a couple weeks ago) that I saw him as a contemporary recording artist.

Syesha Mercado: Poor Syesha. It seems like Randy and the producers are just setting her up to lose. Randy chose Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" for her and it was generally nice, but Syesha doesn't have the personality to make the song stand out from the original. And it was a really unoriginal choice from Randy; he might as well have chosen a Whitney song to be even more cliched. And what the fuck was up with that third song "Hit Me Up," some dud from the Happy Feet soundtrack? That was one of the most awful song choices this entire season (way to go producers, yet again). Her second song, "Fever," was another uninteresting choice, and she didn't add anything new to it, but it was definitely her most solid performance of the night.

David Cook: I have to concede that David Cook won the night overall, but his performances were all generally good, not spectacular. Simon's choice of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was definitely a risk, but he pretty much nailed the challenge. It was a beautiful performance, possibly the finest of the evening, but it really pales in comparison to "Always Be My Baby" or "Eleanor Rigby." The second song, "Dare You to Move," was nothing to write home about and the less said, better. I generally hate "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" (it's loud, bombastic and corny as hell) but I thought Cook's rendition of it was really nice but, again, nothing we haven't seen before.